[wally2q]

So my driveway is paved as of this past summer. Was gravel/limestone-crush before that.

I will be using the FEL once again as a plow this winter, but I want to avoid scratching the pavement with the steel edges on the FEL.

To that end, I'm thinking about adding a plastic or rubber edge to the cutting edge of the FEL, and a couple of blocks to the under side, along the lines of "skid shoes" to allow it to glide on the pavement in float-mode.

Questions:
1. has anyone done that sort of mod to their FEL?
2. if so, can you please post some pics?
3. how well did it work out in the end?.. did the snow get scraped by the plastic or rubber cutting edge effectively?
4. should I use rubber?... nylon?... polyethylene?... or what?
5. does the plastic or rubber wear out too quickly, causing a rounding of the edge, diminishing the scraping effectiveness?

thanks in advance!

 

[TUDOR]

I've done my next door neighbour's driveway with my FEL since long before he got it paved 15 years ago and every snow fall since. I used my MF1655 with a 54" bucket and 5' back blade and chains up untill 5 years ago and my GC2310 with it's 47" bucket and 5' backblade and no chains since. Both tractors weigh in at about 2400 lb working weight. The salesman convinced him to seal it every year in late May/early June, and I have yet to see a mark from my snow removal efforts before it is resealed. It is cracked from frost, but that is it. I don't use any more effort to be gentle on that asphalt than I do on my sinter driveway and the same for another neighbour who has a driveway with a firebrick surface that is 40 years old. Unlike paving stones, firebrick has square edges so some bricks get chipped because the frost has pushed them up a bit over the years.

The lack of surface marks may be because the asphalt is frozen from the start of winter, but I doubt it since snow melts on it when the sun comes out even on sub-zero days. Those are the days when I lift the front tires with the bucket to peel off any snow pack that accumulates.

It may be we that just have tougher asphalt than folks down south? I don't know, but I do wonder about all the concern for marking what is, in fact, a wear surface. The city isn't concerned about its asphalt when it sends a grader out to peel off ice and built up heavy snow pack 2 or 3 times a winter and I rarely see marks left by that piece of equipment past spring breakup. We have Class 'B' asphalt streets in this neighbourhood, formulated with pea gravel, not 'A' gravel (5/8"minus crushed) used for roadbeds and Class 'A' pavement and I have, on occassion, peeled the edge of the street asphalt while reforming the front of my driveway with my loader. I can't do that with driveway asphalt. It's too tough.

I leave more marks on the neighbour's driveway in the summer when I have to turn the front wheels of my truck hard while parking my float in the back yard than I do from scraping with a steel cutting edge. They last longer, too.

 

[UrbanTractor]

Here is a kind of skid-shoe that claims to be tough and non-marking: Robalon Skid Shoe

 

[DJ in WV]

There are a number of members here that have taken a length of one to two inch PVC pipe, slit it down one side with a table saw, and mounted it on the cutting edge to avoid picking up so much gravel. While I haven't tried it yet on my equipment, they report that they have good results avoiding picking up so much stone and it seems to me that it would work to prevent scratching and scarring asphalt too. You'll lose some efficiency cutting hard packed snow off of the surface, but you won't be scarring up your asphalt.